(Motorsport-Total.com) – Lewis Hamilton had more driving pleasure. The seven-time Formula 1 world champion did not hide this after the 2022 Azerbaijan Grand Prix in Baku, but openly stated: “I worry every time I get back in the car.” Because his so-called Mercedes W13 is delightful, it treats anything sweetly.
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Lewis Hamilton in the 2022 Mercedes W13: He finished fourth in the race
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But it was not just bouncing that slowed Hamilton’s pace in Baguio. Compared to the Mercedes teammate George Russell, there were technical reasons for Hamilton to become a slow Silver Arrow driver again.
Hamilton speaks of “three-and-a-half” appearances to Russell “live only” on Saturday. By qualification, he was a little less than two tenths in his sister’s car.
Hamilton in a different set-up than Russell
The reason: there was a “test area” in the Hamilton car, he says. He did not go into details. Also on his Mercedes W13 was a “different rear wheel suspension”. Hamilton and crew wanted to take a new set-up direction.
“But as it turned out, it was wrong,” Hamilton says. That’s why Russell, for example, “had fewer bounce”. And: “He had [deshalb] There is no back pain, but there is also his back pain [13] You’re younger than me! “
Hamilton suspected the goal was coming
Seriously, Hamilton “I’m happy with that [das Rennen] Done. Because it’s the most painful match I can remember. “
He repeatedly doubted whether he would be able to attack even from a distance, Hamilton continued. “Or can I keep the car on track. I do not know if you’ve seen it, but I lost the car a couple of times at high speed. So I had to fight with the car a little bit.”
Before ten rounds were over, he “got down to business,” says Hamilton. “I said to myself: You can, wait!”
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His product paid off for him: “I’m doing something like cryotherapy. You go in for four minutes, it’s very cold. Tell yourself you can go and do it yourself. You calm down and pull it off.”
“But I also had to think about the people who trusted me to get those points. That’s what I focused on,” says Hamilton. “But this year it’s not bad.”
Jumps on the bandwagon like nowhere else
The hopping in the bag was more intense than anywhere else, especially at the start of the race which was huge with the entire tank. Hamilton explains that the first rounds were “very scary.” “I thought it would be a lot better, but at the end of the race it was a little better in the corners, but not straight.”
Hamilton says the fact that he is constantly being rocked violently “made him almost fly off the wall several times”. “I had safety concerns when we crashed into the wall at 300km / h.”
“As a racer I don’t think I thought about it so much. You really don’t think so. That’s it [deshalb] A very, very different experience. “
Hamilton sees an urgent need for action
Unless the Mercedes W13 is significantly improved, it will remain so for a short period of time. Hamilton sees it that way. He says: “The car has a lot of energy, but we can not unleash it until we stop jumping.”
According to Hamilton, Mercedes needs to revisit its own design philosophy with more compact side boxes. Original sound: “Our car looks very different from the others. I have to look at it to see if we’re right or wrong.”
Admission: “I always want to get in the car, but I do not want to experience this bump again. So we will do everything we can to avoid it.”
